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Apollo-class Frigate
The Apollo-class Frigate was a light warship class in service with The Royal Allegiance during the Swarm War. The class was the most numerous ship class within the Allegiance Navy, save for starfighters and small support craft. Although primarily employed in anti-starfighter duties, they could function in an anti-armour role also if needed, and they performed adequately as starfighter and troop transports. It fulfilled many roles, which was both its strength and its weakness. Introduced in 2729, four years before the Swarm War, they were the newest and most efficient warships at the start of the war. Through their versatility and agility they remained in service throughout the Swarm War, albeit being slowly phased out from around 2830 onwards, in favour of newer designs. The class was designed to fill the FFM Hull Classification, being a multi-purpose frigate. As a result it was used for a variety of roles throughout Allegiance space and within military operations. As it became apparent that it lacked in certain areas, it was used instead as a specialised point-defence ship, although still not being reclassified to FFAA (Anti-Aircraft Frigate). Role The Apollo-class Frigate was designed as a versatile light vessel able to fulfil a variety of roles. It had adequate armor to withstand light assault but lacked the protection to engage in large-scale combat without support. In groups of two or three they could take down most heavy ships. Comparable to UNSC Frigates from the Human-Covenant War, they possessed high speed and acceleration. They excelled at engaging and destroying enemy corvettes and smaller warships. Generally, it could individually take on anything up to a medium frigate or light destroyer, anything more powerful than that and it would be outgunned. When this was the case it could simply evade the enemy or escape using its high linear acceleration, vital for weaker warships, or rely on its fighter complement to provide covering fire and diversionary assaults. In addition, it could serve as a frigate or support ship to larger warships such as the Triton-class Heavy Destroyer. Inkeeping with this, it had increased starfighter defence weapons, designed to complement larger ships which often lacked this. They were often employed in tandem with anti-starfighter picket ships and fighter and interceptor squadrons to act as a screen protecting larger ships. Their endurance was below average and they were susceptible to heavy fire. Their shields were adequate but their armour was lacking, meaning that they were seldom pushed into a heavy anti-armour role. They were almost never seen engaging cruisers or such larger ships without considerable assistance, either from starfighters or other warships. As larger, more powerful warships were always in demand and not numerous enough to be everywhere at once, the Apollo-class Frigate was a perfect compromise for filling the place of patrols inside of friendly territory, or other tasks that did not merit the attention of larger naval assets. Not designed for missions without other fleet elements, they were rarely used alone, either with other ships of the same class or more powerful cruisers. As a result, they had fairly poor operational range, instead relying on ships such as the Triton-class Heavy Destroyer, or frigates such as Light Frigates (FFL) and Stealth Frigates (FFS). External Layout The Apollo-class was largely stereotypical of Allegiance ship features, save for its prow, which was devoid of heavy weaponry due to the ship's size. The prow was sleek and aerodynamic, assisting with atmospheric operations and increasing its atmospheric speed considerably. From behind this speahead shape came the forward hull. This was long and cuboid-shaped, topped with four heavy turrets. Beneath this was the two Heavy Particle Cannons and the space for their cooling systems. Due to space limitations the cannons were somewhat exposed, although, as the underside of a ship usually had the weakest armour anyway, commanders took care to avoid showing this side to the enemy. Aft of the forward section, the main hull extended aft and became larger. This section housed the bulk of the ship's critical systems. Afterwards the ship becomes thinner again, providing space for the port and starboard Heavy Particle Cannon turrets, before stretching aft and providing space for the six propulsion drives. From the main hull, port and starboard, emerged two 'arms', similar to those on the Triton-class. The front-facing surface of these supported the two forward-facing Heavy Cannons, four in total. The arms continued aft, providing a platform for the heavy turrets, before terminating just before the engine section. On the top of the ship was a protrusion similar in appearance to a bridge, this housed the communications, navigation and sensor arrays in a heavily armoured shell. Backup units were located in the heart of the ship, as was the main bridge. Beneath the two 'arms' was an opening which allowed the ship's complement to deploy. It was ventrally mounted, which provided cover from most fire, and protected by heavy blast doors and meters of armour. On the inside of the hangar were numerous hangars, containing Sabre Dropships or ground vehicles. Like all openings these were protected by powerful blast doors as well as energy shielding holding in the atmosphere. To the rear of the vessel were the engines. These were mounted in two pillar-like formations and provided the immense thrust necessary to push the ship through space. External bulkheads throughout the ship operated on failsafes and helped to keep the ship intact during heavy firefights. The internal structure of the ship was latticed with support and constructed in such a way that the ship's skeleton frame itself could take monumental damage before giving in, although by the time the frame was taking direct fire the damage would already have been done first. Along the ventral side of the ship were five sealable ports, behind which were the launch tubes for the HALO Pods. These were insertion pods, of roughly cylindrical shape, capable of rapidly deploying troops to a planet’s surface. Each pod could carry up to four people and their equipment/weapons. Each of the five ports held three pods in a column-like fashion on a metal locking rack. As soon as one pod was jettisoned, another slid down to fill its place. This gave the Apollo-class Frigate the ability to deploy troops on the surface without launching a single ship or entering the atmosphere. Internal Layout Inside the ship, the long, forward hull section was mainly dominated by crew quarters, non-essential ship systems, and the Power Core. This took the form of a long, cylindrical chamber with a pillar in the centre and metal struts forking symmetrically in. This provided the zero-point energy in massive quantities needed to power the small ship. The power core was heavily armoured and surrounded by strong blast doors. Main engineering was located immediately above the power core. Catwalks and access-ways from engineering allowed access to the core. The main cargo bay was located to the rear of the ship, holding large amounts of ammunition and supplies. The main ammunition store for the ship itself was located in the forward hull, protected by thick armour plating. The main hull of the ship housed the essential systems, such as life support, shield generators and the command bridge, right in the centre. Below this was the cooling systems and power capacitors for the main cannons. Also, the machinery necessary to operate the heavy cannons was stored in the two 'arms' of the ship. Inside the main hull was the main ship systems and areas. The Bridge, or Command Centre, was one of the most important locations on the ship. From there, the commanding officer and command crew controlled the ship's functions, ranging from movement to weapons fire. It was situated right in the heart of the vessel, in the least vulnerable location. Situated throughout the ship were various smaller terminals from where the ship could be controlled, with the correct access codes. Inside the structure at the top of the ship were the sensor, communication, navigation and targeting arrays. They were linked to the bridge by a direct information link running directly down. Below the main hull was a large, blocky structure which housed the shipboard complement. An opening facing forward allowed entry and exit to the ship. At the rear of the frigate was a large, bulked-out section which housed the sublight and FTL drives. They had an almost direct connection to the power core, located near the front of the craft. At the rear of the craft were the six Ion Drives, which provided the frigate with its propulsion. The engines were separated from the power core by massive power capacitors, which regulated the immense flow of energy from the core, so as not to overload the engines. The primary self-destruct mechanism by-passed the ship's capacitors, allowing energy to build up to a critical level and explode, vaporising everything within a several kilometre radius. Forward of the engines were the barracks and vehicle housings. These could accommodate an two entire Army or Marine battalions and their attached vehicular force. Located throughout the ship were arms lockers which provided access to small arms. They were guarded by armed marines at all times. Each door of the ship was automatic in opening, however could be opened manually if the situation needed. The doors were large and heavy metal ones and could withstand heavy small arms fire or explosive decompression. They could be manually shut from the door itself, from command terminals situated throughout the ship, or from the bridge, or by the shipboard AI upon the detection of decompression or advancing hostiles. The main ship functions, such as navigation, targeting, and sensory data were controlled by independent AIs which had no purpose other than to perform their specialised function, for example firing every weapon mounted on the ship. The AIs were AIs in the broadest sense of the word, they were considered 'dumb' and were not able to learn anything beyond their area of function. The targeting, Sensor and navigation controls were all operated by separate AIs, which essentially acted as advanced computer programs. Overseeing the entire ship was a smart AI which acted as an interface between the human crew and the ship. The navigation, sensor and targeting systems all had independent sensor grids, although the primary sensor grid was much more advanced than the targeting or navigation grids. The 'nav' grid operated on long-range telemetry alone and could not be used as a short-range scanner. The targeting grid. picked up telemetry pertaining to enemy movements only and relayed this information to the targeting AI, which instructed the correct batteries to open fire. It detected long-range threats only with assistance from the Nav AI which would relay information about incoming threats to the targeting AI. The primary sensor grid picked up all data excluding targeting and long-range information pertaining to navigation. It was also responsible for communications. The majority of the ship's interior was relatively cramped, although standard by starship standards. This meant that the ship was more vulnerable to Swarm boarding parties than other, more spacious ships. Generally, once Swarm forces entered a ship, it was doomed, because the close confines of the ship were a natural setting for the hive-oriented Swarm, and perfect for savage melees and brutal ambushes. Armament The Apollo-class Frigate had a well-rounded, but somewhat weak, armament. Its weaponry largely consisted of point defence and Close-In Weapons Systems, leaving the ship more vulnerable to large enemy ships and their weapons. The main offensive armament of the Apollo-class was the two Heavy Particle Cannons, ventrally mounted beneath the main hull. They each had a power output of 300,000 Terajoules, and could fire nine times each in succession before needing to pause to allow cooling. Cooling took anywhere from one minute to three, depending on the spacing between the nine shots fired. The cannons were 13.9 times more powerful than standard MAC rounds. These cannons were primarily used for engaging enemy warships. Supplementing these were four anti-capital ship cannons, firing Antimatter-Enhanced High Penetration High Explosive rounds. They were effectively standard HE and armour-piercing rounds with the exception that, upon hitting the target, a small amount of antimatter held in a forcefield would come into contact with the matter around it, causing a large-scale explosion inside the enemy ship. These were mounted to the port and starboard of the hull. They were complementary to the ventral cannons, with the Particle cannons taking down the shields quickly, while the AE-HPHE rounds penetrated the armour and destroyed the target from the inside. Making up the second tier of weaponry were ten Light Particle Cannon turrets, providing the primary fleet engagement weapons, as well as an all-round non-stationary heavy weapon. There were three on each side, in similar positions to the main guns on the Triton-class. In addition, there were four along the ship's dorsal bow surface, serving as the ship's long-range artillery guns. These were effective at tearing down enemy shields and breaking into their armour. The cannons had seven different power settings, allowing gunners or targeting AIs to select a range of firepower, from a small blow to a devastating assault. The turrets were the primary engagement weapons after the internally-mounted stationary forward weaponry, and had two tracking modes. The first, precise, long-range tracking mode, the turrets could hit a target five meters wide at a range of four light minutes (107,925,285 kilometres). During close-range combat and fleet engagements, the turrets could rotate fully in under six seconds with their fast-tracking mode, able to hit the majority of slow and fast-moving vessels. These weapons were useless against starfighters. Providing a potent anti-armour capability were fourteen Heavy Missile launcher turrets. They could be equipped with specialised warheads for destabilising enemy shields, armour-piercing rounds for reaching the ship's vital systems, or proximity-detecting fragmenting warheads, designed to explode inside clouds of starfighters and send shrapnel at high speed, destroying everything in its blast radius. They were distributed evenly across the ship's outer hull, and were unable to launch nuclear warheads. For general assault and defence there were 16 Heavy Cannon turrets dispersed around the ship, which normally fired standard high-explosive rounds but were able to accommodate the HPHE rounds too. These were efficient against lightly armoured targets, but were only used for supporting fire against larger, more resilient vessels. They could take down a corvette, prowler or light frigate, with ease. They were too slow-moving for use against starfighters. They were used by the Apollo-class as the equivalent of light artillery guns. Also in the ship's arsenal were 25 general purpose Light Cannons, for lightly shielded and armoured targets or harassing larger ones. They could be used against starfighters as a secondary purpose. Some could be equipped with armour-piercing rounds for use when a ship's shields dropped. Serving as the ship's primary anti-starfighter armament were 32 Flak guns. They sent shrapnel everywhere in a 50m radius from the point of explosion, and were extremely efficient at cutting down swathes of incoming starfighters. For a devastating long and short-range single ship defence, fifteen Point Defence Particle Cannon turrets were dispersed around the ship. They were effective against all starfighters and maintained the versatility to engage small capital ships as well. Rounding off the CIWS were over forty Machine Gun turrets, oversized starship-equivalents of GPMGs. They lacked effectiveness against starfighters but came into their own against incoming warheads and torpedoes. Completing the setup were twenty Point Defense Missile Launchers, able to intercept and bring down enemy starfighters and warheads at mid-ranges. Unlike most Allegiance warships, the Apollo-class did not possess the ability to launch nuclear warheads. Weaknesses The Apollo-class was easily outgunned by larger warships or numerous smaller ones. It had thin armour and weak shields, which were notoriously unreliable under stress. The ship suffered power problems early in its career, dismissed as 'teething problems', they persisted until a class-wide overhaul in 2732 revealed a fault in energy management was resulting in over 45% energy loss. From then on the problem was rectified on all new frigates entering service. Although it filled a wide range of roles in space, the Apollo-class was specialised for no single one. This resulted in poor performance when compared to specialised ships built for the same single role. It also had a rather short operational range. This made its carrier abilities less valuable. Its main Heavy Particle Cannons were very exposed to enemy fire on the ventral side of the ship. Shielding The shielding of the Apollo-class was, for the most part, fairly effective. It could block energy weapons, projectiles and most fighters, however was not powerful enough to defend against prolonged fire. Although powerful for the ship's size, the shields could not defend against heavy bombardments. The shields were resistant to roughly 194,220 Terajoules of energy per minute, whether that be chemical energy (explosions), kinetic energy (MAC rounds) or directed energy weapons. This equated to roughly nine MAC rounds within a minute. Any more fire than that and the shields were overwhelmed, leaving the armour to take the brunt of the assault. The three shield generators could operate independently of each other, or in unison. This meant that even if one shield generator was taken offline, the two remaining ones could power the shields, if only at two thirds of full power. The shields could stop projectiles entering the shields by them impacting on the surface, until the shield succumbed to the volume of fire (194,220 Terajoules within one minute). However, weapons could be fired from inside the shields without impacting on them. Fighters could also not penetrate the shields, with the exception of Allegiance fighters. They emitted an encoded databurst to the ship's integrated AI, facilitating the dropping of the shield in a small area just big enough for the fighter's profile to slip through. This could be done by the AI within a few nanoseconds and prevented enemies getting a proper firing solution through the gap. The shields could also offer protection from collisions with other stellar objects, although it put an immense strain on the shields and the Apollo-class' structural integrity. If a vessel was rammed purposely during a battle, the chances are that it would not survive. In addition, the location of the frigate's power core meant that when a ship was rammed, the frigate would blossom into massive explosion, splintering the ship apart from the inside, but also likely destroying the ship being rammed too. A notable tactic was for dying or crippled frigates to ram the enemy with full forward shields and full forward speed. The shields would, for the most part, likely cancel each other out, allowing the explosion to engulf both ships simultaneously. Armour under escort from an Apollo-class.]] The armour of the Apollo-class was designed in layers, each with specific properties. The first layer was high-absorbent, heat-ablative armour plate that absorbed the blasts from Particle cannons and explosions. It generally performed well against projectiles although the faster velocity ones were able to penetrate this armour. The second layer was Tritonium, a metal alloy with hardness higher and reactivity lower than diamond. It was impregnated with a microscopic latticework of neutronium strands, providing a tough defence against projectile-based weaponry. High-penetrations rounds could not normally damage this armour sufficiently to cause lasting damage. The material was first developed for the venerable Triton-class Heavy Destroyer, thus earning its name. The third layer was a carbon composite that was tougher than most metals and specifically aimed at withstanding directed energy weapons and concussive blasts. The next layer was a layer of Titanium, conditioned to strengthen it, and impregnated with latticed neutronium filaments, an extremely dense solid capable of withstanding devastating assaults. The final layer of armour was a layer of Boron Nitride. It could withstand almost any assault and protected the ship from dangerous radiation emitted from many celestial bodies, as well as the thermal energy generated from the ship’s re-entry into atmosphere. Underneath this final layer of armour was a grid of energy shields which activated almost instantaneously once the external armour had been penetrated. These shields were not designed to hold up against enemy fire and so fell quickly under stress. The basic concept of this armour was developed for, and first used by, the Triton-class Heavy Destroyer. As such, it was similar in every way save for its thickness. Engines and Powerplant The Apollo-class, like most Allegiance warships, used ion thrusters for propulsion. Propellant gas was passed through an alternating electric field, ionising the gas. It was then expelled out of the engines at near the speed of light. The electric field used was massive in terms of power, meaning higher efficiency and less propellant gas needed. The colossal power for the field came from the near-limitless amounts of energy generated by the zero-point reactor. The Apollo-class also possessed numerous anti-grav engines which allowed it to hover in-atmosphere. The frigate was capable of prolonged atmospheric activities, including ranged attack, troop supply, mobile command post and, to a lesser degree, close air support, far more so than its larger cousin the Triton-class. The powerplant of the Apollo-class, like most other large warships, was zero-point energy. This provided a nearly-limitless source of energy, the only limit being the handling capabilities of the generator itself. While such energy sources had been powering planets and colossal space-stations for centuries, the use of such a device on board ships was nonexistent, despite intensive research and experimentation. When a breakthrough came in 2655, warship capabilities skyrocketed. Nonetheless, the Apollo-class Frigate was still the smallest warship to be powered by such a source, and it was plagued by power issues early in its career. Complement The Apollo-class Frigate had a shipboard complement that eclipsed those of other warships, even those which were many times larger, such as the Triton-class Heavy Destroyer. This allowed it protection in heavy fights, as well as support in engagements. It also allowed it to function well as a support ship to Allegiance cruisers and destroyers in need of starfighter support. Finally, its onboard complement enabled it to function as a starfighter carrier or troop transport within Battlegroups short of dedicated ships. Providing combat superiority were four squadrons of AL-56 Flashfighters. They could engage starfighters at longer ranges than the CIWS and could also aid in battles against hard targets or atmospheric operations. They functioned as the mainstay general-purpose shipboard craft. Upon the introduction of the AL-61 Valiant Interceptors in 2751, Apollo-class Frigates were equipped with one squadron of the craft, or 16 interceptors. Their role was to directly support Flashfighters in their combat duties. For heavy anti-armour support, the Apollo-class was outfitted with two squadrons of AH-17 Raptor Bombers. They were capable of spatial bombing runs or atmospheric missions, but required constant escort and defence from Flashfighters. They were often employed in tandem with the Apollo-class' heavy guns to quickly bring down dangerous, high-priority targets. Providing transport of ammunition, personnel and light vehicles, as well as close air support, were the twenty four Sabre-class Dropships. They could transport down to a planet's surface the entire deployment force save for the heavy vehicles, in one trip. They could provide powerful close air support within atmosphere as well as a mobile anti-armour tool and hovering weapons platform. In space the Sabres lost their usefulness. For deployment of the heavy vehicles, the Apollo-class Frigate was equipped with four CT-40 Vanguard Heavy Transports. These massive craft could transport the vehicular force attached to the Army or Marine battalion onboard the ship for planetary deployment. Construction Apollo-class Frigates had one of the most simple designs in the Allegiance. Few prow-mounted cannons, small size and thin armour all contributed to a short construction time and a low cost, which helped to assure the Frigate's status as a very numerous main warship. The Frigate could be constructed in seven months, with this time reduced to just three months with the use of labour-intensive building. The ship was light for its size and also the smallest main starship save for the Artemis-class Patrol Ship, meaning it was often churned out to provide just another ship, rather than a specific need for a multi-role frigate. Operational History Introduced in 2729, the Apollo-class Frigate participated in almost every major engagement of the Swarm War. It found usefulness in virtually every role conceivable, provided it was supported by the right ships. Its defensive and offensive armaments were perfect for countering general Swarm tactics, of massive starfighter numbers, and Swarm ships offensively strong but defensively weak. The frigate's offensive armament could quickly take down a single Swarm warship, perhaps two, while the large numbers of starfighters and CIWS would engage and destroy large numbers of enemy starfighters. The class was officially decommissioned in 2825 and replaced by the newer, more modern Regent-class Frigate, though in reality the Apollo-class ships were refitted extensively, effectively turning them into ships of the Regent-class. Battle of Acheron During this battle, one hundred and fify Apollo-class Frigates were tasked with preventing the Swarm fighters reaching the rest of the fleet. Destroying the majority of them, they came under fire from the full Swarm fleet. Two prongs of Allegiance heavy armour and artillery ships advanced, supporting the frigates and drawing the fire off of them. The frigates again jumped forward, this time into the heart of the Swarm fleet. They took heavy casualties, but mixed in with the Swarm fleet and provided too many targets to fire on. The frigates released their starfighter complements, which attacked the now-undefended Swarm warships. A few frigates rammed the enemy before they were destroyed. Few frigates made it out the other side, but they severely weakened the enemy forces, and fragmented them sufficiently for the rest of the battle to be a foregone conclusion. The Allegiance gained victory, but less than twenty Apollo-class Frigates from the 150 that advanced survived to emerge on the other side of the Swarm fleet. Out of a total of three hundred and two Apollo-class Frigates, 94 survived. Battle of Chiaras (coming soon) Ships of the Line *''HMS Apollo'' (FFM-703254) (Class namesake) *''HMS Victoria'' *''HMS Howling Void'' *''HMS Guiding Spirit'' *''HMS Dawn's New Light'' *''HMS Radiant Horizon'' (FFM-839362) *''HMS Clad of Honour'' *''HMS Stone Fountain'' *''HMS Alexandria'' (FFM-10798) Trivia *The Hull Classification Symbol for the Apollo-class Frigate was FFM, or multi-purpose frigate. *The Apollo-class Frigate was one of the smallest ships ever equipped with a Zero Point Generator. *The Apollo-class Frigate was one of most numerous and cheapest warship in the Allegiance Navy. However, the Triton-class Heavy Destroyer had the best cost/effectiveness ratio, and the Artemis-class Patrol Ship and Aurora-class Light Frigate were cheaper in terms of overall cost. Behind the Scenes Conceptually, the Apollo-class Frigate is based on the Acclamator-class Assault Ship, filling a wide range or roles but not mastering any of them. Aesthetically, it is inspired by the UNSC Frigate. It doesn't do it justice though. It is similar to the Halcyon-class Cruiser in the fact that it lacks a powerful punch in space but has a large ground forces complement. Category:Ship Classes of The Royal Allegiance